The season is upon us when most people take a break from the hustle and bustle and stop to celebrate the holidays with their family. Many reflect and give thanks for their loved ones and their gratefulness for health and family. The Schnitzius Family is no exception.
It doesn’t need to be a holiday for Todd and Portland Schnitzius to take the time to be thankful for their family. Indeed, they are grateful every day for the seven children God has blessed them with. They feel very fortunate to be parents of healthy children ranging in ages from one year to fourteen. Lily, Estee, Avonlea, Sophie, Dallas, Chloe and Ruby keep their parents very busy.
They moved to Fishers a little over two years ago from Canada to be closer to their families. Portland stays home to care for the kids and until recently home-schooled them. Todd owns his own company, Microsweep, which enables him to be flexible and helpful around the house – something the family needs. While Portland works in shifts to get the kids up and ready for school, Todd prepares a hot meal for them every morning. It is no easy task. Trying to get all seven of the kids up, dressed, fed and off to school on time is a big job, but their lifestyle and patience have given them the ability to do it.
Their daily routine has them quite busy. While the kids are in school, Portland launders four loads of laundry every day. That’s more than two dozen loads of laundry in a given week! The kids are responsible for putting their clothes away, which is a big help to mom and dad. They are also assigned to chores around the house to help out. As well, they find themselves at the grocery at least twice a week. With seven children, they can consume a lot of food. Todd mentions that if all the kids have a bowl of cereal in one day, they’ll finish an entire box. That equates to seven boxes a week. And that’s just the cereal!
One of the greatest challenges Portland mentions is that they can’t live like others seemingly do. They need to keep life as simple as possible. This means most of the family is not committed to any outside obligations. On rare occasions, the kids might be able to partake in an extra-curricular activity if they have proven they have a great interest and talent in it. But the cost and the logistics of driving the kids around doesn’t typically work in their favor. They do, however, attend church regularly and usually a meal out afterwards.
Strangers often approach them and wonder how they do it. They typically just grin and don’t think twice about it. Although they never really talked about or planned on having seven children, they feel very grateful for all of them. On Thanksgiving and always, Todd and Portland count their blessings; all seven of them!
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